Laundry tag



Feb. 12, 1929.

C. W. CANINE LAUNDRY TAG Filed July 18, 1927 :7 Afar/rays- Patented 1.2,1929.

lJNllED STATES" PATENT OFFICE- CHESTER W. CANINE, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

LAUNDRY TAG.

Application filed July 18,

tag which cannot become detached from the laundry articles intheordinary process of laundryi ng, and which will not tear or mutilate themost delicate laundry articles, and which can be run through laundryironing machines while attached to the garment without injury to thetag, the garment or the ironing machine. 7

A further object is to: provide a tag of this character in which, duringthe washing process, the washing liquid will have free access to everyparticle of the garment, including that part contained between the flatjaws of the tag, so that portions of the garment contained in the tagare washed just as thoroughly as all other portions of it. y

My invention consists in the construction, arrangement and combinationof the various parts of the device, whereby the objects contemplated areattained, as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in my claims,and illustratedin the accompanying. drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows a front elevation oialaundry tag embodying my inventionand attached to a portion of a laundry article, and in closed position.a

Figure 2 shows a similar view with the tag in open position ready forremoval "from the garment.

Figure 3 shows a longitudinal, sectional view on the line 3-3 of Figure1.

Figure at shows an edge view of the tag with the jaws separated by theguiding}; and locking pin; and i i Figure 5 shows an enlarged, detail,sectional view on the line of Figure 3.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, it will. beseen that the tag iscomposed primarily of two pieces of spring sheet metal. Lhe onecontaining the pins is tior convenience herein referred to as the lowermember, and the one containing the pin openings as the upper member.Thelower member com- I prises a flat, substantially rectangular, bodyportion 10 and a jaw member ,1 1," all formed A further object is toprovide a laundry- 1927. Serial No. 206,523.

complete of a single piece of spring sheet metal. The body portion 10 issubstantially fiat and between the body portion and jaw there is aninclined portion 12, which extends "from the'body portion downwardly andtoward the jaw member, and is clearlyshown in Figure 4e. From the part12 the member inclines upwardly toward its outer end. In the centralportion of thebody 10 isa rectangular opening 13, and between saidopening and the inclined portion 12 there is around hole 1 1, the upperedge of which is beveled or inclined outwardly at 15, as shown in Figure5. On a central longitudinal plane through the jaw portion 11 there is aseries.

of pins 16 riveted to the jaw portion 11 and having; their pointed endsextended upwardly.

lhe length of these pins varies from a mini= mum at the outer end of thejaw to a maximum toward the body portion, for purposes hereinafter madeclear. I

The upper tag member is of the same general outline as the lower one andis also made of a single piece of spring sheet metal. It comprises abody portion 17 having a rectangular opening 18 therein, aninclinedflportion 19 and a jaw 20. The inclined portion 19 extends fromthe body portion upwardly and toward the jaw portion, and the jawportion 20 extends from the inclined portion 19 downwardlyand toward theouter end of the jaw member. In the jaw member 20 there is a series ofopenings 21 designed to receive the points of the pins 16. In the bodyportion 17 between theopening 18 and the inclined portion19, there is aguiding and locking pin 22riveted to the-body portion 17] and havingitslower end projected below said body portion and tapered downwardly andinwardly at 23, as shown in Figure 5, and capable ofentering theinclined portion 15 of the opening Minthe lower body portion 10. I

The two body portions 10 and 17 are eon nected by a rivet 24, whichrivet is designed to permit the two membersto swing relative to eachother but it tends at all times tohold the two body portions in parallelpositions.

ill

syn'ibol such for instance as the numeral 25. lVhen the two tag membersare in their nor mal positions, as shown in Figure 1, the )lll'tS areunder little, or no, tension because the guiding and locking pin 22 isin the opening 1% and the pins 16 are in the openings 21 and the outerends of the jaws are in engagement with each other. When in thisposition, it is obvious that the upper jaw cannot be moved laterallyrelative to the lower one on account of the locking pin 22. hen there isa relatively thin laundry article between the aws, when they are intheir closed position, this article is held firmly within the grasp ofthe jaws, because it slightly spreads the lower ends ofthe aws andtherei's a yielding spring contact at this point. Furthermore. thenumerous pin points 16 penetrate the fabric and because of the coactionot the spring pressure upon the garment and the penetrating pins throughthe garment, the tag is firmly held to the garment and cannot be removedtherefrom by any of the ordinary things that are likely to occur in alaundry operation. One of the reasons why the jaws cannot be accidentally separated in a laundry operation is that the two springingplates are of the same exterior contour and have no sharp corners thatare likely to become caught or en tangled, and there is nothing in alaundrying process which would operate to first force the jaws apartagainst the spring pressure to withdraw the locking pin 22 from the.hole 1 1 and at the same time move one jaw laterally on'the'pivot 2%relative to the other, and both of these operations must be carried onsimultaneously in order to detach the tag from the garment.

When a relatively thick arment is placed between, the jaws, then thejaws are held slightly further apart, but even in this case the pinspenetrate the garment and the fabric is prevented from sliding over theends of the pins by the upper jaw, into which the pins 16, or some ofthem, penetrate even the very thickest garments.

by having the pins of various lengths, the points'ot all of them will.penetrate Yethin garments and also enter all of the openings in theupper jaw, and it is in the very thin ments that there is always moredang of tearing the material, whereas in relatively thick garments theouter ends of the jaws may be. spread so that the shorter pins do not enter the corresponding oj )ening in the upper jaw member, but the longerpins will then pass through the garment and into the opening in theupper aw memhenand there will be more spring pressure applied by the tohold the garment in place. Hence. the device operates efiiciently tohold it firml to the garment without danger of tearing Llle gar ment,either with very thin and delicate tabrics or with relatively thick andheavy ones.

In practical operatioml provide a series of tags having the sameidentification mark for the laundry articles belonging to eachindividual. lhen the operator takes each laundry article belonging; acertain individual and opens the spring jaws by forcing the thumbnailinto the space between the inclined portions 12 and 19, thus separatingthe spring jaws and moving the guiding and locking pin 22 out of itsopening 15. When this is done, the two jaw members may be readily sprungapart until they reach the position shown in Figure 2, whereupon thegarment is placed upon the row o'tpins 16, alter which the upper memberis swung back on the pivot 24 to position overlapping the lower member.During this swinging movement, the upper aw portion is held away fromcontact with the pin points, by the guiding and locking pin 22, and onlywhen the parts have reach overlapping positions does the pin 22 enterthe opening 14, and thus permit the jaws to come together with the pinpoints 16 entering the openings 21, and when in this position, thegarment is firmly clamped between the jaws.

The openings 13 and 18 are provided in the. body portion so that thesetags may be usedv in an assortin g apparatus and the garments and tagsjointly suspended from a rod received in the said openings.

1 claim as my invention:

1. A laundry tag formed out two members, eachv comprising a body portionand a jaw portion, means for pivotally connecting the body portions, theportions 01" the jaw members that are near the body portions beingwidely separated and the ends of the jaw portions being close. together,one jaw portion being formed with an opening, a pin on the other jawportion to enter said opening when the jaws are in position for engagingthe garment, and a locking pin carried by one of the body portions, theother body portion being formed with an opening to receive it, saidparts being so arranged that the locking pin will hold the jaws spacedapart at all times throughout the pivotal movement except when thelocking pin enters its oj' ening.

2. An improved laundry tag comprising in combination two spring metalmembers, each comprising a body portion and a jaw portion. the bodyportions being suhstzuitially fiat and formed with a central opening toreceive a bar for supporting the tag. the jaw pmtions being extendedfrom the body portion first outwardly away from each other and thentoward each other at the outer ends 01" the jaw portions, a rivet forpivotally connecting the body portions together, said parts being soarranged that the ends of the jaws are yield ingly held toward eachother by the springmg action of the two members held together by therivet, one of the jaw members being formed with a series of pinopenings, and a series of pins fixed to the other jaw member lac anddesigned to enter said openings when the outer ends of the aw membersare adjacent to each other and a guiding and locking pin fixed to one 01the body portions, the other body portion being formed with an openingto receive it, said guiding and lockin g pin being so constructed andarranged that when it is in its opening the ends of the jaws are broughtinto position in engagement with each other, and when the guiding andlocking pin is in any other position of its movement,

it will hold the body portions spaced apart far enou h to Jrevent the'aw havin the opening therein trom touchlng the ends or the pin points,substantially as and for the Durposes stated.

3. A laundry tag comprising two members,

each having a jaw portion, a. pin carried by one jaw and the other jawbeing formed with an opening to receive the pin when the jaws are inoverlapping positions, means for pivotally connecting themembers topermit them to slide over each other from overlapping positions toposition with the aws spread apart in non-overlapping positions, and alocking device on one of the members to coact with an opening formed inthe other member and shaped to hold one of the jaws out oi contact withthe pin on the other jaw at all times during the pivotal movement of thejaw except when the said pin and opening are in alinement.

- CHESTER w. CANINE.

